[Infowarrior] - DHS invokes nukes, Bush quietly links cybersecurity program to NSA

[Richard Forno]

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Chertoff_invokes_nuclear_bomb_to_seek_0409.htm
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Homeland Security invokes nuclear bomb, as Bush quietly links cybersecurity
program to NSA
04/09/2008 @ 8:29 am
Filed by John Byrne

Department of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff has dropped the bomb.
At a speech to hundreds of security professionals Wednesday, Chertoff
declared that the federal government has created a cyber security "Mahattan
Project," referencing the 1941-1946 project led by the Army Corps of
Engineers to develop American's first atomic bomb.
According to Wired's Ryan Singel
<http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/04/feds-cyber-cent.html> , Chertoff
gave few details of what the government actually plans to do.
He cites a little-noticed presidential order: "In January, President Bush
signed a presidential order expanding the role of DHS and the NSA in
government computer security," Singel writes. "Its contents are classified,
but the U.S. Director of National Intelligence has said he wants the NSA to
monitor America's internet traffic and Google searches for signs of cyber
attack."
The National Security Agency was the key player in President Bush's
warrantless wiretapping program, which was revealed by the New York Times
<http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/16/politics/16program.html>  in 2005.
Sound familiar? Yesterday, documents acquired by the Electronic Frontier
Foundation under the Freedom of Information act showed the FBI has engaged
in
a massive cyber surveillance project
<http://rawstory.com/news/2008/FBI_linked_to_national_eavesdropping_program_
0
408.html>  that targets terror suspects emails, telephone calls and instant
messages -- and is able to get some information without a court order.
Last week, the ACLU revealed documents
<http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Documents_show_Pentagon_now_using_FBI_0402.ht
m
l>  showing that the Pentagon was using the FBI to spy on Americans. The
military is using the FBI to skirt legal restrictions on domestic
surveillance to obtain private records of Americans' Internet service
providers, financial institutions and telephone companies, according to
Pentagon documents.
Chertoff sought to calm those who worry that Homeland Security will begin t
take an invasive Internet role.
"We don't have to sit on the internet and prevent things from coming in or
going out," Chertoff said, which Singel says refers to China and other
countries that censor what web sites their citizens can see. "That's not
what
we are going to do."
Bush wants $42 million more for program
But Chertoff may have had another reason for hyping threats of cyber
terrorism. Money.
Congress appropriated $150 million in funding for the program this year,
Singel notes. The administration has sought $192 million for 2009.
Speaking of threats, Chertoff remarked: "Imagine, if you will, a
sophisticated attack on our financial systems that caused them to be
paralyzed. It would shake the foundation of trust on which our financial
system works."
Remarked Singel wryly, "That digital mushroom cloud scenario means the
government's role in computer security must extend beyond federal networks,
and reach to shared responsibility for financial, telecommunication and
transportation infrastructure, Chertoff said. "The failure of any single
system has cascading effects across our country."
Which recalls another quote by a senior administration official.
Speaking of the alleged threat of Saddam Hussein in 2003, then National
Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice remarked, "We don't want the smoking gun
to
be a mushroom cloud <http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/01/10/wbr.smoking.gun/> ."